State of the Business Member Only

Every year at every major documentary market, someone convenes a panel on the state of the business, where the news is roughly the same: consolidation is tightening, commissioning slots are shrinking, and the path to an audience runs through fewer and fewer gatekeepers. But documentary audiences are not shrinking. But a whole world—revenue models, audience development, and creative independence—exists for documentaries outside the broadcaster-commissioner pipeline. This conversation brings together experts from different corners of the documentary universe to whom questions of ownership, direct audience relationships, and long-term sustainability are not theoretical. The goal is not a diagnosis of decline, but a harder question: what are we actually measuring, and what is the true upside?

Moderator: Ted Hope (Hope for Film)
Panelists: Sam Denby (Nebula, Wendover Productions), Sohini Sengupta (Doverlane), and Sky Dylan-Robbins (Video Consortium)